Latest News
KS2 Visit Bristol Museum
On Wednesday, Ashe, Mill and Joyce class visited Bristol Museum to support their learning for this term’s big question, What is a Museum? Each class investigated there class question:
• Ashe: Why do people make collections?
• Mill: What belongs in a Museum?
• Joyce: Who decides what we see?
During the day the children looked at the various rooms to investigate how the museum works and is organised, each class looked at the exhibits from the perspective of their class question. Ashe class also participated in a workshop about Amelia Edwards, who collected the Ancient Egyptian artefacts in the museum.
Nativity
December 2024
What a joyful afternoon we have shared with our EYFS and KS1 children performing their Nativity, The Lion, the Unicorn and Me. We hope you all loved it as much as the children and staff have enjoyed putting it together over the term. From learning the songs to rehearsing their lines and movements, the children have been totally absorbed by Kate Courage's wonderful play inspired by Jeanette Winterson's beautiful story. Such special memories and moments created for all. A tremendous well done to the children and heartfelt thank you to Kate.
Harvest
October 2024
This week the whole school gathered at St Peter's Church to sing harvest songs, listen to the story of the Little Red Hen and thought about the importance of sharing what we have with others.
We met Vicar Matt visiting from St Philip & St James and are looking forward to seeing him again at Christmas.
Thank you to all our families for your generous donations for our harvest festival, all donations have been taken to our local food bank.
Let's Explore
George Class
George class spent two days building independence and developing problem-solving skills while inhabiting the world of Julia Donaldson’s Stickman as they discovered ways to help their stickman (or sticklady) journey back to the family home. Luxurious family homes were crafted and furnished with platters of food, comfy beds and even a spa, as the children discovered the creative possibilities of tarps, rope, string, leaves, sticks and a large mound of slippery clay!
Mill Class
Mill Class enjoyed two days exploring our Big Question of “Why do people move homes?” this week by forming Celtic Tribes, creating their homes before receiving rumour of the arrival of Boudicca, the fearless warrior queen. As a community, we had to come to decisions on whether or not to side with the Iceni Queen or stay loyal to the Roman Emperor. We came to our conclusions dressed in appropriate tribal attire, with our Celtic face markings, hairy cloaks and fearsome spears. We also ensured we were fit for battle as energy from our Oat cakes, cooked on our tribal fire pit, ran through our blood.
Let's Explore
October 2024
So far Joyce Class, BTS Class and Ashe Class have enjoyed their two days learning outdoors in the beautiful and exciting environment of Fairy Woods.
Joyce Class
Last week Joyce class were set team challenges that explore the themes in Armin Greder’s, The Island. Beyond the “Let’s Explore” offering of communication, resilience and problem solving, our Big Question ‘Why do people have to move home’ was explored. The children gained an insight into difference, tolerance and acceptance of strangers.
BTS Class
This week Bythesea class braved the rain and had a fantastic two days of collaboration, imagination and skill development in the woods. Inspired by 'Roxaboxen', our own community 'Treedirtdedirt’ (a community name voted for by the children) had a leisure centre, campsite, hospital, school and sweet shop. Within their community the children learnt how to whittle with elder branches as well as discovering how to use a tent peg to hollow out the middles. Their creations became straws, whistles, telescopes, climbing hooks and many more imaginary objects to resource their community.
Ashe Class
This week Ashe class spent their first day in the woods living as an ancient clan. The children made pre-historic settlements, considering what they would have, where they would be situated and what food, water source, home etc. that they would live in. On the second day they were in the present and as archaeologists the children looked at the clues and using their history detective skills tried to tell the story of who had lived in the dwellings.
Mid-Somerset Verse Speaking 2024
March 2024
Huge congratulations to all those children who participated in this year’s Festival and thoughts go to those who practised so hard but were ill on the day and were unable to attend.
It was a very enjoyable day for all concerned, with the children delivering performances of an exceptionally high standard, for which they should be deservedly proud, particularly those younger children taking part for the first time.
Congratulations to everyone who gained places in their class and particular congratulations must go to Emmanuel Yr. 1, who won the Plowman Memorial Trophy from a combined class of 27, and to Lydia Yr. 4, who won the Northover Cup in a class of 36. Both gained Distinction.
Thank you to parents for the support and encouragement given to your children on their journey. Hugh thanks to Helen who has spent a huge amount of time with the children getting them prepared.
Lego Robotics
January 2024
On Wednesday 24th January two Freshford teams competed at the First LEGO league regional tournament. Since September the teams have been working hard building and programming Lego Robots to undertake ‘missions’. They also chose and researched art related innovation projects. The tournament is a very intense day including 3 robot races, two presentations and a little team building silliness. All the children can be very proud of their achievements in all of the areas; speaking publicly, performing under pressure, coping with disappointment, team work and what Lego describe as ‘gracious professionalism’. One of the teams brought home the runner up cup for these ‘core values’. A huge well done to both teams!
Joyce Class Visit Houses of Parliament
January 2024
On Wednesday 17th January Joyce class visited Parliament, the visit included a tour and workshop. During the tour they visited the House of Lords as well as the other public areas in the Palace of Westminster.
The day included a highly interactive ‘Laws and Debating’ workshop and they experienced the law-making process through the journey of a bill. The day helped everyone understand how a bill is taken through the House of Commons and the House of Lords gaining an understanding of the democratic process of law making. By the end of the day Joyce class had enhanced their debating skills to feel empowered to influence and shape decisions that affect their lives in order to be active citizens in our thriving democracy.
Let's Explore - Ashe Class
Oct 2023
Last week it was Ashe class’s turn to enjoy Let’s Explore. On day 1 they walked the plank, navigated their boundaries, built 5 pirate islands, created routes to connect them and shelters to protect them. Hammocks were constructed, flags hoisted on pulleys and treasure chests were discovered that they filled with woodland jewels. The learning and fun continued on day 2 when they guided each other to treasure chests, listened to a story about trading, swapping and exchanging which inspired the trading of essential resources they had acquired on their islands.
Let's Explore - Joyce Class
Sept 2023
A very big thank you to the team of parents who helped out with such versatility this week from logistics and cooking, to engineering and drama.
We explored our class Big Question of 'Do we need leaders?' through devising scenes around the words and themes in Shakespeare's Henry V. We turned tennis balls into ammunition for trebuchets that - after a stirring whole class performance of 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends' - managed to take the walled city of Harfleur; march in spite of dysentery to Agincourt; construct tents for shelter in which to ponder our fates; and finally, string long bows that fired arrows so hard and fast that our army was victorious. Joyce's greatest victory was in working together, encouraging and supporting one another as a 'band of brothers' in every task. Although we have further research to do on 'Do we need leaders?', it was discovered that the words and positive values that Shakespeare shows in his play were aligned to our school values of 'Care', 'Believe you can' and 'Cheer each other on'. Joyce class embodied all three of these this week.
Alistair Campbell Visits Freshford School
Sept 2023
Alastair Campbell, the journalist, author and one-time political advisor to Prime
Minister Tony Blair kindly accepted an invitation to come to Freshford to talk with years
5 and 6 before giving a talk in Bath later in the day.
Alastair interrogated the children's knowledge and understanding of the British
electoral and political system and the functioning of parliament before asking what
they think are the biggest issues facing their world today.
He then led the children into some rigorous discussion of possible solutions and
challenges before highlighting the absolute necessity of starting with our first school
value 'Care' before making a plan (our 2nd school value 'Believe you can') bringing
others together to create a campaign strategy that you then drive through with
determination (our 3rd value 'Cheer each other on') and lots of what Alastair describes
as 'persivilience.'
Alastair finished the discussion by choosing particular children to serve in different
roles (based on the particular care, knowledge and understanding that they had
demonstrated) in an imagined future government cabinet
Shakespeare Workshop
June 2023
On Thursday 22nd June a group of Year 4 and Year 5 pupils enjoyed a day at Monkton Combe School, they spent the day exploring Shakespeare in a fun and innovative manner. The session aimed to build confidence with understanding Shakespeare's language. The group took part in workshops run by an RSC trained practitioner, the workshops looked at the narrative of the play, explored themes, character journeys and unlocked language in key scenes. The day ended watching an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Bristol Aquarium
June 2023
George Class and BTS Class visited Bristol Aquarium on Friday 16th June. The children saw some incredible creatures and learnt a huge amount of interesting facts during their visit. The children looked through the exhibits to find the creatures that they thought were the most beautiful and sketched them so that back at school they could work out how to help others see the beauty in our oceans.
Important Online Safety Event
SWGfL Online Safety Training for Parents & Carers
Thursday 8th June
09:00 – 10:30
Dear Parents and carers,
Writing as our school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, I am delighted to have secured the opportunity to invite you to an Online Safety Training event for parents and carers led by the South-West Grid for Learning (SWGFL - a charity dedicated to empowering the safe and secure use of technology through innovative services, tools, content and policy, nationally and globally) at 09:00 on Thursday 8th June.
There are very few organisations across Europe with the particular focus, expertise and resources of the SWGFL and, having recently attended their Online Safety Training for schools, I am very keen that all children in our community should benefit from the support, encouragement and guidance of parents and carers who have had access to such high-quality training.
This session will provide you with a window into the current popular technologies and how your children use them. Demonstrating the massive positives and potential pitfalls, the interactive presentation will provide you with advice, coping strategies and resources to help you to understand and engage with your child’s online lives effectively.
SWGfL Online Training will last for approximately 90-minutes, including questions and answers.
In the meantime, SWGFL recommend that we share these free resources in advance:
Online Safety Guidance for Parents | SWGfL
Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre
Topic: Online Safety and Social Media | SWGfL
Information, Advice and Support to Keep Children Safe Online (internetmatters.org)
Social Media Checklists | SWGfL
Inclusive Digital Safety advice for Parents and Carers | Internet Matters
Resources | SWGfL (swgflstore.com)
‘SWGfL offer online safety training as one of the partners in the UK Safer Internet Centre. As a charity, we are committed to ensuring that children and young adults are safe from online harms and that the wider children’s workforce is aware of the risks that young people face when using the internet.’
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at 09:00 on Thursday the 8th June.
Wishing you a very happy half-term holiday,
Andrew
Mid-Somerset Festival 2023
March 2023
Mid-Somerset Verse Speaking 2023
Over seventy children from Yr. 1 – Yr. 6 participated in this prestigious festival’s Primary Verse Speaking category on Tuesday of this week. It was a delight to see the children performing so confidently and with such composure. Reciting poetry in an unfamiliar setting to a large audience can be a very daunting experience, but a huge achievement, which has provided them all with such a vital life skill as they move forward. Every single child who participated was a definite winner, but special congratulations to Arte in Yr. 6 who came first in her class, Laura , Yr. 1, who won the Plowman Memorial Trophy and Sansa, Yr. 3, who won the Ledbury Cup, but also gained a very praiseworthy Distinction, as did Imo and Heidi (Yr. 2). Huge thanks to parents for their support and encouragement given to their children on their journey.
Mid-Somerset Creative Writing 2023
Saturday was Creative Writing Day at The Citadel in Bath. All the children’s work was submitted in advance and assessed by this year’s adjudicator, Sophie Kirtley, a prize winning children’s author. All entrants were invited to attend and present their work.
Sophie was full of enthusiastic praise for all the poems and short stories submitted by children in the Junior Section giving delightful feedback to all.
Huge congratulations to all our Freshford children from Yr. 1 – Yr. 6 whose poems and short stories achieved extremely high marks.
A particular mention to Mimi (Yr. 6) for winning the MSF Literary Trophy and Isla (Yr. 4) for winning the Tish Foreman Memorial Trophy for Creative Writing.
Mid-Somerset String Ensemble
The Freshford String Ensemble played very well at the Mid-Somerset Festival were awarded the Leslie Hope Trophy, with a commended and winners' certificate (for Instrumental Ensemble year 8 and under). Some fantastic comments from Michael Young the Adjudicator....
"you created a very good atmosphere, violins producing a sweet tone, well appreciated by all, with much confident bowing"
Congratulations to Year 6 Iris, Lily, and Arte Year 5 Silver, Amelia, Jacob Year 3 Sansa, Florrie, Daisy, Lily, Harriet.
Mid-Somerset KS2 Choir and String Ensemble
Freshford KS2 choir competed in the Mid Somerset Festival on Tuesday and sang two pieces, both in four parts, with great skill and energy. They gave a brilliant and really entertaining performance which the audience loved. Unfortunately they did not walk away with the trophy for their class, but they were only one mark below the winning school and made everyone at Freshford extremely proud. Lucy Pegler's string ensemble were also presented with the Jennifer Paterson Chamber Music Award for 'most promising musicians' and have been awarded a gift of £100 to buy something for the school music department. Well done for all the music your lovely children are sharing.
Swimming Gala
February 2023
On Monday, children from our Years 4 to 6 competed in the Bath Primary Schools Swimming Gala at Bath Leisure Centre.
You’ll be delighted to know that Freya, Amelia, Dora, Bella, Harry, Hans, Gilbert, Antonio, Emma, Albert, Poppy, Scarlett, William H, Antos, Dominic, Ada B and Seth M managed to gain Freshford an overall 4th place at this popular and exciting event. Through relay races and solo events, across 25 m and 50m lengths, our team brilliantly stepped up to the start. They focussed brilliantly on their butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke and backstrokes to reach the other end and meet new personal bests. The energy and noise at the poolside was off the scale, thank you to our families for coming to cheers us on-I think we could hear your support from underneath the water!
The First LEGO League
January 2023
The First LEGO League is a global age 9-16 competition entered by thousands of teams each year. Since September are two teams have been working hard on building and programming their LEGO robot as well as researching and developing research projects on this year’s competition theme which was ‘energy journeys’. On Wednesday our 19 team members travelled to Bristol to compete in the regional heat at Bristol. It was a long, intense day for the students, but they performed brilliantly and ‘Solar Swifts’ came 2nd in the robot competition and were also runners up in the ‘Core Values’ teamwork section, whilst ‘Gravity Griffins’ were outright winners for their ‘Gravity Battery’ energy presentation. Coming home with 2 of the 8 trophies available, whilst competing with many older secondary school teams, is an outstanding achievement. Well done to both our teams.
Nativity
December 2022
It’s been a marathon week of Nativity performances for George and Bythesea class. On Wednesday we performed for the preschool and some of the village seniors, Thursday for KS2 and today to a hall packed with proud parents. Our Nativity ‘Little Amal and the Long Walk’ created by Kate Courage, links the story of refugees with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus fleeing from Herod. Our leading Year 2’s memorised and acted their lines to perfection. Our soloists’ sweet voices and brave delivery surely moved all who heard them. From dancing stars, flying angels to a host of donkeys, cows, camels and sheep all the children performed to perfection. Well done everyone.
ITV West Country were there filming for a story about refugees in our area, watch tonight at 6pm.
NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. online programme
December 2022
Freshford Church School recently participated in the NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. online programme. This consisted of an online assembly and supported classroom based activities. Speak out. Stay safe. is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline.
In the online assembly, the Speak out. Stay safe. messages are delivered in a fun and interactive way with the help of their mascot Buddy as well as special guest appearances from Ant and Dec.
By the end of the programme, the children felt empowered – knowing how they can speak out and stay safe.
If you would like to know more about the Speak out. Stay safe. programme you can find information on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/speakout
Additional resources
Adapted assembly for home use
The NSPCC has also developed an adapted version of their assembly for parents/carers to use at home with their children. This can be found here: www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/safety. With the help of celebrities, the film focuses on how a child can get support if they have any worries or concerns.
To complement the assembly, there are some resources that can be used to enable further discussion whilst doing activities with your children. These are hosted on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/activities.
Online safety hub
You may also like to visit the NSPCC Online Safety Hub where you will find advice and information on a range of different online safety topics including gaming, social media, sharing nudes, parental controls and more.
You will also find online safety information for families of children with additional needs and disabilities. We have worked with Ambitious about Autism and parents and carers who have children with additional needs and disabilities to create activities to help talk about online safety which you can find at www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-families-children-with-send.
Childline Under 12’s Website
Childline also have a website with age appropriate advice for primary school children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools. Your child can visit it at www.childline.org.uk/kids.
If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website www.nspcc.org.uk/parents.
Talking PANTS with your children
Talk PANTS is a simple conversation to help keep your child safe from sexual abuse. From P through to S, each letter of PANTS provides a simple but valuable rule that can help keep your child safe. You can find out more and download the free resources at www.nspcc.org.uk/pants.
Penguin and Ladybird have partnered with the NSPCC to create a brand new Pantosaurus book aimed at children ages 4 - 8. You can find copies of the new book on sale, either in Matalan’s selected stores and online, selected SPAR stores or at https://shop.nspcc.org.uk/. All profits from the sale of this book will support the NSPCC.
Support the NSPCC
You may be interested in the NSPCC’s new selection of BUDDY goodies available from the NSPCC shop at https://shop.nspcc.org.uk/collections/buddy which make perfect gifts for children - and all profits go to help keep children safe.
Thermal Cameras and Layering Up!
November 2022
Last week, we had a workshop about how to keep warm – very useful as the weather gets colder!
Paula from Energy Sparks came in to work with us. She has a very cool thermal image camera. The thermal image camera does not take normal photos. It shows the shapes of people and objects but most importantly it shows the temperature of the things it sees.
The thermal image below shows two children from Freshford School. The blue shows the cold background area. The red shows the heat. The green and yellow areas are in between.
As you can see, the areas of the children NOT covered by clothes are giving off heat. They are LOSING heat! The green/ yellow areas are where the children’s clothes keep the body heat in the body! Eli in Mill Class said that clothes are like thermal protection – they help to keep you warm. We have another word for this: INSULATION.
Scientists have proved that lots of thin layers are better at keeping you warm than one thick layer.
In this image, you can see one red hand and one yellow/ green hand! The yellow/ green hand is the one wearing a glove. The red hand has no glove on. The glove helps to keep the warmth in the hand.
Paula discussed heating your home and said: “Heat the person, not the room.”
What she means by that is turn the heating off or down and put on more layers of clothing. If you put the heating on, you can heat the whole room BUT it takes a long time and a lot of energy. Instead of putting the heating on, put on lots of clothes to help SAVE THE PLANET! At the moment, energy bills are going up and up.
Lots of energy used = lots of money spent by you!
Less energy used = less money spent by you!
It is cheaper and more healthy for the planet if we wear more clothes and turn our heating down or better still TURN IT OFF!
Unless you want to be like Elon Musk and go to live on Mars, Energy Sparks think that we should all do everything we can to help the planet. Even Elon Musk is not rich enough to buy another planet Earth – there is only one planet Earth.
Netball Competition
October 2022
On Thursday Ralph Allen hosted a fast passed and fun filled netball competition. 9 of our Year 5 and 6 girls were lucky enough to take part and we were so impressed with the energy and enthusiasm that they maintained throughout. Some of the girls had not taken part in a competition outside of school before and it was a wonderful opportunity to dip our toes into school life outside our little primary school. Mrs Ritchie was so impressed with the support and advice the girls gave each other as the competition progressed, even after a couple of early losses the girls came away with smiles on their faces, already looking forward to the next match. Our afternoon culminated in a 2.0 win, our perseverance and resilience paid off!
Let's Explore
October 2022
Children in George Class enjoyed their Let’s Explore day on Monday. In the woods Mrs Kile read about Stickman whose misadventures take him far from his home and family. George class spent time wondering how he might ever get home. Then to everyone's delight, they discovered a whole group of Stickmen lost and in need of their help. With their Stickmen clasped carefully in one hand or tucked in a pocket all the children devised ways to help him find his way home. In the words of one eager 5 year old “It was the best day ever!”
On Tuesday and Wednesday it was Mill Class's turn. During their two days of Let’s Explore they tested their team work skills, building tripods which were used to wrap damper bread around and cook over the fire. They enjoyed working in small groups to rescue “dad” (an action man) using pulleys, carabiners and boxes, and had s’mores and hot chocolate by the fire. The rescuing “dad” activity followed the storyline of the book Mill class are reading in school, October, October by Katya Balen, a book about a girl called October who lives in the woods with her dad.
Let’s Explore
October 2022
Wildthings, also known as BTS class, launched their Let's Explore work in style last week. On a beautiful Autumn day the class worked in four groups to create areas within the woods that their woodland personas could navigate through. Inspired by the book Willow Wildthing and the Swamp Monster (Gill Lewis), the BTS Wildthings built explorer retreats, lava pathways and plenty of trips and traps to challenge the foe who dared to come near.
Then, this week, Joyce class have been creating their own island cultures. In tribes, they've devised greetings, ways of worship, healing methods and established leaders to oversee their tribal societies. When a stranger from a foreign island washed up on each tribe's shore the children had to decide how to handle the intrusion. Through shared ideas and great communication, a very current real-world problem was explored by the group.
Ofsted Section 8 Inspection - message form Chair of Governors
September 2022
We are absolutely delighted to be able to share the official result of the Ofsted Section 8 inspection that took place towards the end of last term. We have received the judgment that Freshford remains a Good school. The purpose of a Section 8 inspection is to confirm a previous judgment, so this is the best outcome that we could have achieved.
This is a wonderful result for our school, particularly after the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on our staff team over the past year, which was explicitly noted during the inspection. The outcome is down to an extraordinary team effort by Andrew, the teaching and office staff, our governors as well as the BWMAT’s Director and Deputy Director of Education who provided constructive and hands-on guidance and support throughout the inspection.
The verbal feedback we received from the Inspector at the time was an accurate and heart-warming reflection of our school's culture and ethos, our deep philosophy of education and attention to developing the whole child, our high ambitions for our pupils and last but by no means least the 'inspirational leadership' (direct quote) provided by Andrew.
We are very grateful for the 113 responses received from our parent community. As noted in the report, the majority of these were positive commenting on the passion and commitment of the staff team, the creative and dynamic learning environment and our caring school community. Where parents have expressed concern about systems and processes that are not as strong as they need to be, the Inspector has noted the steps being taken and included recommendations to secure continuous improvement. We will be working hard in the months ahead to implement all the recommendations in the report.
We encourage you to read the report in full (click here). For families who are new to the school, you can find more information here about our Governing team. Caroline and I are always happy to hear from parents, so please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about the report or the school in general. sara.buchanan@bwmat.org.uk or caroline.ford@bwmat.org.uk
Caroline and Sara, Co-Chairs of Governors
Go Karting at Goodwood
Since their last race our young engineers have been busy repairing crash damage, decorating the karts and practicing their tyre change pitstops in preparation for their main competition at the iconic Goodwood motor circuit track.
Last Sunday our 22 racers, plus over 50 support staff (parents & siblings!), met at 8am to prepare the karts for scrutineering. After a mass safety briefing, all the 65+ teams paraded their karts onto the famous track for the day’s racing. With so many karts competing in the various races (drag, sprint, slalom and pitstop challenge) it’s always a very busy day, but a great atmosphere and lots of cheering kept our 3 teams going as they had their 6 attempts at each race under the scorching sun.
During lunch we were treated to the sight of a noisy WW2 spitfire taking off from the neighbouring aerodrome and then it was time for the ‘lap of champions’ race – one lucky driver completing a full 2.4 mile lap of Goodwood. Seeing all the different school’s karts out on the track at once is quite a sight and as soon as the flag was dropped they all took off and disappearing out of sight. Around 9 minutes later(!) they then all reappeared down the home straight to much applause and cheering.
Everyone had an amazing day and our final positions of 6th, 9th and 11th in such a large competition was a fantastic achievement. Well done to all the team and their families.
Bath and District Year 3 and 4 Tennis Competition
With great excitement, 8 of our children took part in the Bath and District Year 3 and 4 Tennis Competition held at the Sport Training Village, Bath University. Team Murray (Esme, Kou, Jemima and Jem) played some energetic and tightly contested single matches and then went on to enjoy a doubles game. Team Williams (Alec, Ada B, William W and Isla) found their glory in the dizzying heights of a semi-final match! We had some really confident and experienced players amongst our group, they should be really proud of the tennis skills they have acquired so far. Equally impressive though, were the players that felt unsure about this new experience and yet were prepared to have a go and learn about how it feels to master a new challenge. You should all be really proud of yourselves! Thank you for a lovely afternoon.
Ashe Class Garden
Last term, whilst getting to grips with our big question ‘Is our world a good place to live?’, Ashe Class made plenty of discoveries about plant growth. They looked at water cycles, soil components, the functions of the various parts of a plant, optimum conditions for plant growth and so much more. The culmination of their work led them to creating some detailed topic pages in their wider learning exercise books, planting up their garden and designing some wonderful posters and leaflets to inform about their garden.
The garden is now ready to be enjoyed and Ashe class parents came along on Friday to have a look around. The class shared their work and everyone enjoyed a sample of some of the food that the garden will produce over the next few weeks.
Mid-Somerset Festival Creative Writing 2022
Twenty-six children submitted their creative writing poems and stories in the Creative Writing classes of this year’s Festival.
The Chair commented on the high standard of entries received from Freshford this year.
Penelope and Jacob came first in their class, achieving Distinction with 91 and 90 marks respectively, with further Distinctions
being awarded to Amelie, Albert and Eli. These were phenomenal results.
Huge congratulations to all those who submitted so many imaginative and enticing entries.
Mid Somerset Verse Speaking competition
Against all the odds, with many having been absent with COVID, sixty of our children, from Yr 1 to Yr 6, participated in this year's Mid-Somerset Festival Verse Speaking competition on Tuesday.
For many, this was their first experience of performing in a public forum, in front of a large audience; the children's sheer joy and sense of achievement was testament not only to their own determination, but also the warm encouragement and inspiring feedback from the adjudicators.
Huge accolades to those for whom this represented a significant challenge but had the courage to complete their journey, congratulations to those who were placed first, second or third in their individual classes and a special mention to William and Amelie Childs who won the Northover Cup and The Whiting Challenge Trophy respectively.
It was such a shame that a small number of children were unable to share the experience due to self-isolating... you were missed! Many thanks to Helen who came to school regularly to coach the children and prepare them for the competition.
Netball and Rugby Tournament
What an action-packed sporty week we have had at Freshford! After far too long a break, Freshford sports teams have been competing against local schools in two competitions—Netball H5 and RFU Tag Rugby. It was wonderful to branch out and meet some fellow primary school teams, understand how to win and lose well and most importantly, work on some fabulous team work skills. Congratulations to Amelie C, Elsie W, Mimi, Maya, Bella, Freya and Mabel for your netball skills on Tuesday.
On Thursday, we were represented in the Rugby by Amelie G, Isaac, Mila, Hector, Arte, Henry, Raff, Patrick, Scarlett, Duncan, Harry and Jude. We really couldn't be prouder of your performances—Go Freshford!
Mid Somerset Festival—Choir
On Tuesday, 8th March, Freshford KS2 choir spent the morning in Bath Pavilion, taking part in the prestigious Mid Somerset Festival Choir competition. They sang in two categories: Free choice and the Rounds class. Their performances were excellent and all the singers looked confident and happy. The adjudicator even mentioned how everyone was smiling and how much they had enjoyed their singing. We were awarded a Commended certificate for both categories and came back to school feeling very proud!
Congratulations to Kate for being awarded the Chairman’s Award (Mary Whittle Cup) for her amazing contribution over the years.
Freshford Church School crowned FIRST® LEGO® League England and Wales champions
Our LEGO robotics club competed in the First LEGO league Challenge - IET FIRST® LEGO® League ( IET FIRST® LEGO® League (theiet.org)), which is a global schools' competition designed to stimulate an interest in STEM subjects in young people aged 9-16 years old.
Two teams (Combat Wombats and Crispy Bacon) from our school entered the competition in which they had to work together to explore a given topic and design, build and program an
autonomous LEGO® robot to solve a series of missions.
Over 100 countries every year and thousands of school teams spend months working on both their robot and innovation project.
Both teams from Freshford Church School were successful in the regional finals and were invited to attend the national competition last weekend. The two teams were amazing, and our Crispy Bacon team won the national final - they have now been invited to attend the world final being held in Texas, USA in April 2022. If you know any companies that may be interested in
sponsoring the children to attend the event please contact the school office.
Congratulations as well to Clive who won the Team Coach Award, Clive has run our Lego robotics club for many years and has inspired so many pupils along the way. Thank you to Clive for all the support you have given the children, and thank you to Dan Towner, Caroline Ford, George Tomlinson and Amelia Pocknell who have also supported the teams this year.
Lego Robotics Regional Competition
The First LEGO League is a global engineering competition for teams of up to ten 9-16 year olds. In over 100 countries every year thousands of school teams spend 4 months working on both their robot and research project presentations, which have a new theme each year. Then, on the regional competition day, teams must present their research project and compete against other teams in intense 2.5 minute robot challenges, and the teams are also judged on their robot design and teamwork core values.
On Tuesday Freshford’s two teams boarded the 7am coach (kindly paid for by Intel) to travel to the regional event in Bristol. After a quick practise (and second breakfast!) it was straight in to the presentations, where both teams were suggesting their ideas to
reduce the highly polluting ‘last mile’ effect of deliveries on the environment (a subject which had been inspired by an interesting talk to the group by Vicki of Riverford Organic Veg Boxes).
Team ‘Combat Wombat’ introduced an innovative tunnel parcel delivery system whilst team ‘Bacon Crispy’ explained how more space efficient packaging in vans could have a real global effect on reducing ‘last mile’ pollution.
Next was the robot challenge. Each team has three heat rounds of 2.5 minutes, during which their robot has to complete as many table-top missions as possible to earn points. Our teams coped with the intense pressure admirably and scored very highly against their (mainly secondary school) opponents – and both teams finished in the top 6 so were through to the quarter finals.
In the knockout rounds ‘Bacon Crispy’ performed very well to finish 4th in the semi finals. ‘Combat Wombats’ were one of only two teams to score over 300 points to take them into the final, but in the end were very closely beaten into 2nd place. An amazing robot performance by both of our young teams, scoring much higher than many of the older secondary teams!
After showing the judges their robot design, and enthusiastically explaining what they had learnt during the after-school club sessions, it was time to let off steam with a conga dance of all the competitors and then nervously wait for the final awards. Based on their overall performance in all 4 of the day’s exciting activities Freshford’s teams were delighted to be awarded 2 of the 3 available regional champions awards, our best ever result! Well done teams, you were absolutely amazing!
Click here to watch a video of the robots in action!
Finally a massive thank you to our parent helpers: Clive Seager, Dan Towner, Caroline Ford, George Tomlinson and Amelia Pocknell who all helped run the after school club each week. Thank you also for the financial support from Intel, who match fund Dan’s volunteer hours at the club and paid for the coach travel to the event. We truly appreciate Dan still continuing to help out at the club despite his own children having now moved on from Freshford to secondary school!
